Attractive and athletic blonde British stage actress Honor Blackman broke into films in the late 1940s, finally achieving a measure of fame in the 60s as the predecessor to Diana Rigg on the popular British TV series "The Avengers". Playing leather-clad judo expert Catherine Gale from 1962 to 1964, prior to the show's arrival on American screens, led to her best known role as villainous martial arts expert Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger" (1964), a memorable entry to the James Bond series. Blackman's post-Bond movie credits included "Life at the Top" (1965), "The Last Grenade" and "The Virgin and the Gypsy" (both 1970), among others, but she has confined herself to TV in the 80 and 90s, acting in miniseries like NBC's "The First Olympics: Athens 1896" and ABC's "Lace" (both 1984), among her American appearances. Beginning in 1990, she portrayed the lusty Laura on British-TV's "The Upper Hand" (1990-1995), based on the ABC sitcom "Who's the Boss" (1984-92). She also provided the voice of Mrs. Medlock for ABC's animated musical version of "The Secret Garden" (1995).
Family
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Daughter: Lottie Kaufmann.
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Son: Barnaby Kaufmann.
Education
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Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, England
Milestones
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1946 Stage debut, "The Gleam"
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1947 Film debut in "Fame is the Spur"
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1954 TV debut as series regular on "The Vise" (ABC)
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1958 Appeared in early Titanic film, "A Night to Remember"
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1963 Played Hera in Don Chaffey's "Jason and the Argonauts"
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1964 Delivered memorable turn as villainous martial arts expert Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger", starring Sean Connery as James Bond
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1965 Acted "Life at the Top", a sequel to "Room at the Top"
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1968 Reteamed with Chaffey for "A Twist of Sand"
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1968 Worked again with Connery in "Shalako"
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1971 Kidnapped by Dean Martin in Andrew McLaglen's questionable comedy-western, "Something Big"
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1975 Portrayed Margaret Stevenson in "The Rebel" (CBS), the third presenatation of a four-part series on Benjamin Franklin
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1979 Last feature to date, "The Cat and the Canary"
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1984 Appeared in ABC miniseries "Lace"
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1984 Played Ursula Schumann in NBC miniseries, "The First Olympics: Athens 1896"
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1987 Acted in "The Secret Adversary", a two-part adapatation of the Agatha Christie story airing on "Mystery!" (PBS)
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1990 Began as Laura on "The Upper Hand", an anglicized version of American TV's "Who's the Boss"; Blackman gave a lusty performance as a character with a passion for anything wearing pants
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1990 Portrayed Doris Asterman in two-part syndicated "Voice of the Heart"
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1994 Provided the voice of Mrs. Medlock for ABC's animated musical version of "The Secret Garden"
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1995 Interviewed for Fox's "The World of James Bond"
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1999 Portrayed Joy Adamson in the feature "To Walk With Lions"
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2001 Played supporting role of Penny, a family friend, in "Bridget Jones's Diary"
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2007 Co-starred in "Colour Me Kubrick," the true story of a man who posed as director Stanley Kubrick
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Raised in Chiswick, west London
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Starred on British TV in "The Avengers", exited after 52 episodes, before the series arrived on American screens; played Catherine Gale
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Taught to box by father at age five
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Was working as an understudy in the West End when picked by Rank for grooming as a starlet in late 1940s